Inside Sydney Zoo's New Education Programs: What Teachers Need to Know

Sydney Zoo is launching new education programs in 2026, and they've been built specifically around NSW's new Science and Technology and HSIE syllabuses. If you're planning Term 1 excursions and looking for something that maps cleanly to those fresh curriculum outcomes, these are worth knowing about.

The programs—Living Systems for Stage 2 and Living Things Change Over Time for Stage 1—centre on the same core idea: students learning with animals, not just about them. Both combine animal encounters, hands-on activities and real-world observation in ways designed to make the syllabus outcomes tangible.

Two Programs, One Big Idea

Living Systems (Stage 2) focuses on habitats, ecosystems and food chains. Students meet ambassador animals, participate in interactive games across the zoo's grounds, and explore how living things depend on each other to survive. The program also looks at human impact and what students can do to support healthy habitats—framed around the concept of becoming "heroes for habitat." It's aligned with ST2-SCI-01 and HS2-GEO-01.

Living Things Change Over Time (Stage 1) takes students through life cycles, growth and adaptation. The program includes data collection activities, animal observations, and discussion about why healthy habitats matter. It's structured to keep Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 students engaged while building understanding that connects back to their own environments. It maps to ST1-4LW-S

"The programs centre on the same core idea: students learning with animals, not just about them."

Why Teachers Will Like This

Sydney Zoo has thought about the practical side of booking excursions. They offer free downloadable resources to support learning before, during and after your visit—the kind of pre-made materials that save you hours of prep time. The workshops themselves are designed to run for approx 90 min minutes depending on age group, with time built in for students to explore the zoo independently afterward.

There's flexibility in delivery too. If bus budgets are tight or timing doesn't work, the programs are available as incursions at your school or as virtual Zoom experiences. And for schools with an ICSEA of 990 or below, the Education Access Scheme offers unlimited visits for $1,500 per year—something worth raising with leadership if access to excursions has been limited. You can check the Education Access Scheme terms and conditions HERE.

It's also worth noting the broader Indigenous education offerings at Sydney Zoo. The Bungarribee Dreaming programs, led by First Nations educators, run alongside these science workshops and connect naturally with the new HSIE syllabus emphasis on caring for Country. Schools are increasingly looking for ways to embed Indigenous perspectives authentically, and having educator-led programs makes that more achievable.

The Practical Bit

Sydney Zoo sits 40 minutes from the CBD via the M4 or M7, which makes it workable for a half-day or full-day excursion. The new programs launch at the start of the 2026 school year, and bookings are already open for Term 1. From what I'm hearing, February and March slots are filling quickly.

If you're mapping out Term 1 now and want an excursion that directly supports those new syllabus outcomes, it's worth getting in early. All the program details, curriculum alignment and free teaching resources are available at sydneyzoo.com/education.